Anderson v. Fidelity Co-Operative Fire Insurance

116 Misc. 679
CourtNew York Supreme Court
DecidedOctober 15, 1921
StatusPublished
Cited by2 cases

This text of 116 Misc. 679 (Anderson v. Fidelity Co-Operative Fire Insurance) is published on Counsel Stack Legal Research, covering New York Supreme Court primary law. Counsel Stack provides free access to over 12 million legal documents including statutes, case law, regulations, and constitutions.

Bluebook
Anderson v. Fidelity Co-Operative Fire Insurance, 116 Misc. 679 (N.Y. Super. Ct. 1921).

Opinion

Woodward, J.

The complaint in this action alleges that the defendant is a domestic insurance corporation, doing business at Alfred, N. Y., and that the defendant “ Milo O. Gilbert is named in said policy of insurance hereinafter referred to as a payee thereunder and may claim to have some interest in said policy of insurance, which interest, however, if any, is subsequent to that of plaintiff.” Both of these allegations are admitted. The complaint further alleges that the plaintiff, s>n or about the 17th day [682]*682of June, 1920, was the owner of a farm on which were certain buildings in the town of Gerry; that on or about the date mentioned she applied to said defendant for insurance thereon, for the term of three years; that a contract of insurance was entered into, wherein and whereby the defendant, in consideration of the sum of five dollars, paid by the plaintiff to the defendant, the said defendant agreed to and with this plaintiff to insure Barn No. 1 and Barn No. 2 upon said premises for the period of three years, in the amount of four hundred dollars upon the one and three hundred dollars upon the other, the said insurance to commence at noon upon the 17th day of June, 1920, and to expire at noon on the 17th day of June, 1923. It is then further alleged that the defendant in pursuance of that agreement issued its policy No. 12273, “ but in violation of said agreement and as this plaintiff is informed, by mistake and clerical error, or if not by mistake on the part of said defendant, then the said defendant through its officers and agents, intending to cheat and defraud this plaintiff, said policy was dated several weeks ahead of the date on which it was issued and did assume to be issued the 2nd day of July, 1920, and did assume to extend to the 2nd day of July, 1923,” and that “ plaintiff had no knowledge of said mistake or fraud and that said dates were placed in said policy and permitted to remain there and said policy accepted and permitted to continue in the form in which it was drawn, all by the mistake of this plaintiff and contrary to the express agreement therefor orally made.” It is then alleged that on or about the 30th day of June, 1920, the barns above mentioned were destroyed by fire, and that plaintiff’s loss was in excess of $700; that promptly thereafter plaintiff did give notice of said loss and did promptly and duly [683]*683furnish the defendant with proof of said loss, which proof was accepted and retained by defendant, and plaintiff has otherwise duly performed all the conditions of said policy and agreement on her part to be performed;” that more than ninety days have elapsed since the furnishing of said proof of loss and no part of said loss has been paid, and that there is due and owing the plaintiff from the defendant insurance company the sum of seven hundred dollars, with interest from October 1,1920. The demand for judgment is that the policy be reformed “ to conform to the intention of the parties thereto, in that the term during which said insurance is in force be stated to be from June 17th, 1920, at noon, to June 17, 1923, at noon,” and that plaintiff have judgment for the amount of the loss occurring on the 30th day of June, 1920.

The answer of the defendant puts in issue the alleged mistake in the date of the policy, or of intended fraud, and the evidence of the plaintiff clearly fails to establish that there was any agreement as to the exact term for which the policy was to be issued. The plaintiff herself testifies that she had nothing to do with the negotiation for the policy; that her husband did all the business, and the husband testified on direct examination that a few days before the 17th day of June, 1920, he had a conversation with Frank H. Oaks, agent for the defendant, apparently for the purpose of soliciting insurance risks, in which the witness told Mr. Oaks that one Gilberts had a mortgage upon the premises, and that Gilberts had asked the witness to have some insurance placed upon the property, as a previous policy had run out; that Oaks promised the witness that “ the first time I get up that way in a day or two I will look at it.” He says this was the substance of the conversation; that subsequently and a [684]*684day or two later he saw Mr. Oaks, that the latter showed him a plot of the premises and suggested $1,400 as the amount of insurance to be placed upon the two barns involved in this litigation, and that upon a subsequent Sunday, the date of which he does not remember, he received two insurance policies upon the property, one-half of the $1,400 being the policy in suit and another for a like amount in another company. The witness was then asked if anything was said by either of you as to the time when the insurance should be written, and he replied, after an objection was overruled that the matter was not within the pleadings and not binding on the defendant, that it was “ right away.” He further testified that there was -no talk about dating one of the policies ahead, and that he did not know of the dating of the policy in suit as of July 2, 1920, until after the fire.

The above constitutes the substance of the direct testimony as to the alleged error in the date of the policy or the intended fraud of the defendant. Upon cross examination the witness said, in reference to his original talk with Mr. Oaks in regard to the insurance, that Mr. Gilberts had written to me and said that the policy which he had on the buildings would run out and wanted me to get out some more insurance right away,” which is quite different from the direct testimony, and in no wise tends to show that there was any agreement that the policy in suit should “ commence at noon upon the 17th day of June, 1920, and to expire at noon on the 17th day of June, 1923,” which was the material fact pleaded and fairly put in issue by the answer. All that the evidence fairly shows is that the plaintiff’s husband asked the defendant’s agent for some insurance, because the mortgagee had told him the other policies “ would run out ” and that he (the mortgagee) wanted some new policies [685]*685right away. “ Parties go to court to try the issues made by the pleadings, and courts have no right impromptu to malee new issues for them, on the trial, to their surprise or prejudice, or found judgments on grounds not put in issue, and distinctly and fairly litigated.” McNeil v. Cobb, 186 App. Div. 177, 182, and authorities there cited. The issue of mistake or fraud depended upon whether there was an agreement that this policy should cover the period between the 17th day of June, 1920, and the date of the fire; the complaint alleges that there was an agreement that the insurance was to commence at noon upon the 17th day of June, 1920, and to expire at noon on the 17th day of June, 1923,” and the evidence fails entirely to establish any such agreement. There is no evidence that Mr. Oaks did anything to prevent the plaintiff from knowing the contents of the policy; she concededly had it in her possession for a period of about one week, and it was then delivered to the mortgagee, who had expressed the desire to have such policy written, and who appears to have had a substantial interest in having the policy right, but no one found fault with it until after the loss had occurred. Mr. Oaks testified that he caused the policy to be written as it appears in evidence because it would result in saving the insured one assessment under the rules of the company, and there is nothing to dispute this testimony. The plaintiff got what she paid for; there was no mutual mistake, such as is necessary in the reformation of written instruments in the absence of fraud

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Cite This Page — Counsel Stack

Bluebook (online)
116 Misc. 679, Counsel Stack Legal Research, https://law.counselstack.com/opinion/anderson-v-fidelity-co-operative-fire-insurance-nysupct-1921.